Apparatus for generating illuminating and heating gas



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

J. W. MITCHELL. APPARATUS FORGENERATING ILLUMINATING AND HEATING GAS.

Patented May 5', 1885.

: H-F-"w u PETERS. Mlilhegraphr. wishfngwm n. c

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. W. MITCHELL. APPARATUS FOR GENERATING ILLUMINA ING'AND HEATING" GAS.

No. 317,407. PatentedMay 5, 1885.

' 39 1x15. #QTJ/ahi n. PETERS. Pholo-Lilhagnpber, wahinmn, nc.

3 SheetsSheet' 3.

(No Model.)

J. MITCHELL.

APPARATUS FOR GENERATING ILLUMINATINGAND HEATING GAS.

Patented May 5, 1885 N. PETERS. Phuio-Lilhcgraphlr. Wuhinmm. B4 c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN Vi. MITCHELL, OF BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR. GENERATING ILLUMINATING AND HEATING GAS.-

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 317,407, dated May 5,1885.

Application filed March 23, 1885. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN W. MITCHELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Bayonne, in the county of Hudson and State of NewJer-ey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forGencrating Illuminating and Heating Gas; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such'as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for the manufactureof gas for heating and illuminating purposes from carbonicl the productswhich pass through it from the oxide and hydrocarbon gases, eachseparately i for the ash-pit is provided, to which access generated. Thecarbonic oxide is cooled before mixing to about the temperature of the Tblower, K, connects with the cupola just behydrocarbon gas dischargedfrom the retorts, at which temperature they are amalgamated or fixed, asmore fully hereinafter specified. These efl'ects I attain by the meansillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 representsa front elevation of benches of retorts for the generation of thehydrocarbon gas, showing the steam superheating coils in dotted lines,and below this a cupola-fnrnace in vertical section, as well as a blastapparatus in elevation, whereby the carbonic-oxide gas is generated.Fig. 2 represents a rear elevation of the benches of retorts with aportion of the brickwork broken away, exposing the retort-connectionsand superheating-pipes. Fig. 3 is a vertical secgat the front and rear,leading from the lower tion on line :1: m, Fig. 1, showing one retort insection and the others in elevation. Fig. 4i represents a sectional viewof the mixingchamber or amalgamator and the tank through which thecarbonic-oxide-gas conduit passes; I Fig. 5, a sectional view of theinjector, wherel by the oil is sprayed into the retorts by means of ajet of steam.

The letterA indicates a furnace, constructed of brick-work or any othersuitable material, 1

and is divided into three compartments, a b c,

by means of vertical partitionwalls. The side i compartments of thefurnace have located in them the retorts O I) E, which are arranged inbenches, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

1 nacc.

retorts below. This is to insure the conversion of any undecomposedvapor that may have passed from the retorts below and prevent it frombeing carried forward with the fixed gas to the mixing-chamber. Theintermediate chamber is provided with a seriesof heating coils or pipes,F, for the purposeof supcrheating steam. The furnace is located on thefirst floor of a retort-house or other structure, and supported upontrussed girders or arches, G, or in any other suitable manner, and belowsaid furnace is located a cupola, H, of the usual or any approvedconstruction, which is provided with grate-bars I. A space may be hadthrough gas-tight doors. A

low the grate-bars, for forcing a current of air through the furnace andthe burning fuel with which it is charged. The cupola communicates withthe side chambers, a and c, of the furnace. by means of the obliqueflues L, so as to discharge the hot gases generated by the combe seen byreference to Fig. l. of the drawings. The said chambers to and c, aswell as the central chamber, 1), are arched at their tops, as shown indotted lines in Fig. I, so as to cause a deflection downward of theheated gases after reaching the tops of the chambers. Thepartition-walls e 6 between the chambers u b c are formed with shorttransverse fines portions of said chambers a and 0 into the chamber 1),and the said walls are also provided with central vertical escape-tines,it, leading upward from the lower part of the chamber I) into theinterior of the dome or compartment N above the chambers of the furThese vertical fines lead in from the chamber at a point below thetransverse openings g.

Within the chamber I), running back and forth, is a series of coils ofpipes, E, which connect at oneend with a steam-boiler through a pipe,5., and through the pipes m a with the branch pipes 12, leading to theinterior tubes of the injector r, projecting into the lower and middleseries of the rctorts in the respective benches, as indicated in Figs. land 2 of the drawings. The inner tubes of the injectors arecontinuations of-tlie oil pipes S, connect 1 ing with the cross-pipes t,which in turn couple with a pipe leading from the oil tank Q. A pipe, t,having a controlling-valve, r, for regulating the automatic flow of oilto the in jectors, extends from the oil-tank to supply I pipes The saidtank is provided with an agitator, which may be operated by any suitlable power, to prevent theheavier portions of the oil i'rom collectingat the bottom of the 1 tank and the pipes, and thereby clogging thepassage or flow of the oil. Pipes u-from the upper retorts connect witha horizontalpipe, w, for conducting the hydrocarbon gas'to theamalgamator or IiXingch-amber. (Shown in Fig. 40f the drawings.) Therearends of the retorts of the respective benches are connected bythepipes Y and the cross or branch pipes Z. From the dome of the furnacea pipe, 3;,extends through a tank, R, and then to and connects with thehydrocarbon-gas pipe 10- above the amaiganiating-chamber. A branch fromthe intersection of these pipes extends downward through the top of theamalgamator,

wherein the gases are finally commingled at a suitable temperature foramalgamation or proper union. The amalgamator or fixingchamber consistsof a structure of brick-work or any other suitable material. The pipeprojectin g into the amalgamator is perforated at intervals, to providefor the lateral passage of some of the inflowing gases into the chamber.The main volume ofthe gases,however,escapes into the chamber through thelower end of the pipe, which is left entirely open and unobstructed forthe purpose. At intervals in the interior of the said amalgamator orfixingchamber are arranged wire-gauze or foraminous diaphragms, whichfinely divide the 1 gases in passing upward and cause them to come intocontact with each other, thus insuring their perfect union and thoroughamalgamation or fixing. From the top of the 1 chamber at one sideextends a pipe, J, through i which the fixed gases pass to the washer,from 1 which they are carried by suitable pipes directly to thepurifiers and thence to the holder.

In practice, for the sake of convenience, I

prefer to have two cupolas for the generation of the carbonic-oxide gas,so arranged and located below the retort-furnace andits benches that onefurnace can be in operation while the other is idle, to avoidinterruption when. cleaning and recharging are necessary, thus providingfor acontinuous supply of carbonic- 5 oxide gas. 7 r

The operation of my invention will be read ily understood in connectionwith the above description, and isas follows: The cupola below theretort-furnace being properly charged with carbonaceous material, andthe material ignited, the chamber below the grate-bars is closedair-tight, and a forced current of air of suitable volume and underproper pressure is passed upthrougli thet'uel. Combustionisthus carriedon,andthehot carbonic-oxideand other 1: gases of com bustionare carriedup throng-lithe j flues into the chambers a and cand around the etortstherein. The hot gases are then deflected downward, and pass throughtheshort front and rear horizontal flues in the partition-walls into thechamber 1) and around the heatingcoils therein. 0n the way through thechambers (ii-c thr hot carbonic-oxide gas parts with a portion of itsheat to the retorts, and inits passage through the chamber b parts withmore of its heat to the heating coils in said chamber, and escapesthrough the vertical tlues IL in the partitionwalls, rthen,ce into thedome, andfinally ofl' through the submerged coil of pipes to meet thehydrocarbon gas onv its way to the ama-lgamator or fixing-chambers.VVhilethis is taking place the oil is being supplied to the injectorsthrough the oil-- pipes from the tank, and superheated steam is alsobeing fed to the injectors from the coils. The steam from the boiler issuperheated and is injected into the retorts with the oil, where the twoare decomposed by the heat imparted to the retorts by thehotcarbonic-oxide gas,

5 and the resultant hydrocarbon gases are carried off through-the pipesto meet the carbonicoxide gas on its way to the amalgamator ormixing-chain her, where they enter simultaneously at a proper meantemperature, at which they are united and amalgamated, and

finally fixed in said chamber, after which they pass off to the washe-condenser, and purifier, thence to the holder.

It is observed that the operations of this apparatus are 'substantiallyautomatic.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent,

1. A furnace for generating carbonic-oxide gas, a retort or bench ofretorts, means t'onsupplying hydrocarbon and steam to said retorts forgenerating hydrocarbon gas,and coils for 'superheating steam, combinedand arranged for operation substantially as specified, where bycarbonic-oxide gas is generated, and by its surplus heat the contents ofthe retorts are decomposed and the steam is superheated.

2. The combination of a cupola-furnace for .generating carbouic-oxidegas, a retort-furnace, a flue or flues leading from the former to thelatter, a. retort or bench of retorts, means for supplying hydrocarbonand steam to said retorts, and a conduit leadingfrom the cupolafurnacethrough a water-tank tojoin a separate conduit leading from the retortsat the amalgamator, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the cupola-furnace I and the retort-furnace andretorts, otthesteam' coils extending through a chamber, I), locatedbetween the retort-chambers, which'communicate with said intermediatechamber, and the injectors connecting with said coils and with theoilsupply pipes, whereby the steam may be heated by the surplus heat ofthe carbonicoxide gas and the gas further cooled previous to passing tothe amalgamator, substantially as and for the purpose specified.-

4. The, combination, with the retortyt'urnace having two retort-chambersand an intermedipipes, and separate pipes for the gases conmeeting withthe amalgamator or fixing-chamber, substantially as and for the purposespecified.

7. The combination, with the ainalgamator or fixing-chamber, of theinlet-pipe at one end and discharge pipe at the other, and wire-gauze orforaminous diaphragins, substantially. as

"described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

' JNO. W. MITCHELL. Witnesses VVM; A. ROSENBAUM, HENRY BRooK.

